Honda cooks up an electric motorbike menu, with sides of connectivity Honda has updated its plan to electrify its motorcycle range, creating modular components that can be assembled into customized motorcycles – most with advanced connectivity features. The Japanese automaker's Tuesday announcement outlines a plan to create battery, power unit and chassis modules, and allow buyers to combine …
"In the future, data obtained and accumulated from both ICE and electric models will be utilized to understand the needs of customers based on the data of how those motorcycle models are being used," predicted Honda.
Engine, wheels, petrol tank, seat, handlebars. Piss off with the rest of it.
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It also promised a new age of connectivity will accompany the electric motorcycles
Please someone. Make it stop. If I buy I thing, I want to own it. I want to be able to bugger about with it. I am not interested in "exclusive subscription features for your convenience". I don't want my use of my thing reported to "enhance user experience".
Same answer as to the previous post: You might not want it (obviously), but their marketing department does, very much so, so guess what will actually happen...
The only way to make it stop would be to not buy any "connected" crap, but of course that won't ever happen, there are enough fools out there who claim they don't have anything to hide, or who simply don't care... And by "enough" I mean a "vast majority". The rare eccentrics who don't like being fleeced and spied upon are a tiny, insignificant minority, a rounding error. Most people will manage to convince themselves this is for their own good, and marketing is actually doing them a favor. Because, well, marketing said so...
It would be an interesting project to take on of these bikes and create a plug-in replacement control module that only does the basics. No infomatics, infotainment, OTA, nothing. Just a big display that tells you how fast you are going and how much charge you have left in the battery. Sell it on Aliexpress and Temu along side the boards that turn a rental scooter into one you can repaint and deny any accusations of theft about.
The problem is it will void your warranty, and thus potentially bite you down the road (no pun intended), for instance when you'll need to change those batteries.
Also the manufacturers will know how to make it extremely difficult (see iPhone component replacement). After all, a modern e-bike isn't just a bike with electrical propulsion, it's a computer on wheels...
"You will need to change the batteries eventually..."
Ok, it's not a problem to change batteries. If the control board has been replaced, there won't be any DRM associated with chipped battery packs where the control board will have a tizzy and reject anything not anointed by Honda. I don't think that it would fall afoul of DMCA legislation about circumventing DRM.
Kind of started this modular era with the NC range - same chassis, 3 bikes (well, 2 bikes and 1 large scooter), and basically half a Honda jazz engine. - just like cars do with a chassis and across all their brands / ranges.
Like the concept of getting the bits you want to build your bike, but connectivity. The last thing I really want on a bike. I rarely use a tomtom/garmin unless I am not sure where I am going. The headset in my helmet is only on when the sat nav is on - no calls, no radio, no music.
I am already exposed, so want all my senses operating as well as they can be to hear the vehicle near me doing something wrong - or to hear a honda triple engine
Oh, connectivity back to Honda so not even the remotely useful kind - err why, go and shove it up your exhaust - which my first electric bike won't have, so they;ll have plenty to choose from
Not sure who started the "modular" production approach to motorcycles but BMW certainly used it with aplomb since the middle of the last century at least.
You could probably argue that NVT (Norton Villiers Triumph) did it too, but that was more a badge-engineering effort (ie produce one bike and slap different brand/model names on them at random).
I like the sound of a "modular" motorcycle and understand it's appeal from a manufacturers and end users point of view, but please leave all that "tech" shite in the cars. I don't want to be connected to anything except my motorcycle. The latest motorcycles have a plethora of gadgets but very few of them enhance the experience, and many of them can detract from the experience. Yes, that active suspension/cornering traction control/linked braking system can let you corner faster and safer,.... but what's the point when it's the computers doing it, not you. I like ABS because it only intrudes when needed and could save me, but almost all of the rest of the "rider assist" stuff is not for me. Yes, not having the "rider assist" tech makes riding more dangerous but it also makes riding more personal and immediate. I was looking forward to experiencing the instant torque of an electric motor between my legs, but since it seems it is going to be slathered in "tech" then no thanks. There is a reason why people want "retro" bikes and that reason is that the "experience" of modern bikes is too sanitised, managed, and controlled.
I could imagine scenarios where it is having the rider assist gubbins that actually makes things more dangerous. If you start getting riders who ride more carelessly on the basis that the assorted rider assist technologies will save them from their own stupidity, bikes with rider assist could end up with a worse safety record than those without. I don't know whether there have been any studies into this kind of thing (perhaps on bikes, but maybe in cars or other vehicles), but it's an interesting question.
My own time as a motorcyclist was fairly short-lived and is now nearly thirty years ago, but even back in the day, I wouldn't have thanked you for any additional techno-wizardry (with the possible exception of ABS which was about the only such thing that was available at the time and then only on a couple of bikes such as the Honda ST1100). And certainly not bloody stupid things like entertainment systems, etc. Riding a motorbike is a dangerous activity - you're physically vulnerable, you can be hard to see and you have to be much more aware of your surroundings, road conditions, etc. Knowing that the only thing between you and a nasty end is your own ability, alertness and good sense is a good way to make you stay safe. If you do make a stupid mistake and live to tell, you learn very quickly not to do it again.
A friend of mine at college, rode down from the north for the start of January term in monsoon like conditions.
He didn't so much as enter his shared digs but sloshed like a zombified walking puddle in the way that only bikers who have been thoroughly soaked to the skin can recall.
I am serious. Dominos and other Ifood chains here have 25-30 bikes parked up front, regular gas ones, at any single time. They spend a great deal of time there just waiting for orders. If anybody wants to be serious about EV bikes, then you should consider fleets and where to put an absurd amount of battery chargers in the tiniest of physical installations. Perhaps if you could daisy chain said bikes with beefy connectors as they can be, and limit to 3 in a row, and make them talk to each other like a HUGE USB hub...
The home user is probably going to wheel the bike to the back door and charge it off the kitchen 110V sockets over night. May I suggest 100 ft. cords rolled within them?
This should be their target audience, no fancy shmancy infotainment. Fleet of delivery guys are the only ones that can front the cost of such an upgrade.
Recent trip to China, there are electric delivery scooters everywhere.
Apart from the hazard to pedestrians it means you can get everything from a coffee to custom business cards delivered in minutes. The hotels even had banks of lockers by the entrance so they didn't have to dismount.
They seem to have forgotten that riding a motorbike takes concentration, as it makes very high demands on situational awareness if the rider wants to stay alive.
<joke>However, safety could be improved if, rather than "infotainment systems", a riderless bike could be developed</joke>
> Some new models will also get in-vehicle-infotainment systems that include a suggestion-based navigation function that shares info on nearby charging stations
This would be very useful. My current bike does this... but... the database doesn't contain any chargers outside of Italy. OOPS.
Hopefully Honda won't make this mistake.
On the other hand, it appears to be a static database updateable only by going to the dealer, much like car navigation maps. With new chargers popping up literally daily, that's kind of a dealbreaker.
So like I use Google Maps on my phone in my friend's cars, I use PlugShare on my phone on my bike to find chargers.
"My current bike does this... but... the database doesn't contain any chargers outside of Italy. OOPS.
"
You could get a bog standard satnav from Garmin with a mount to go on the bike and config the maps to wherever you are.
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